Roxanne (Pokémon)
Roxanne (Japanese: ツツジ Tsutsuji) is the Gym Leader of Rustboro City's Gym, known officially as the Rustboro Gym. Trainers who defeat her receive the Stone Badge. She is a scholar who specializes in Rock-type Pokémon. Prior to Generation IV and onwards, her signature Pokemon is Probopass. History In the games Roxanne appears in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald,Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire as the Gym Leader of the Rustboro Gym. She believes Rock-type Pokémon to be rock-solid, and her strategy is to use Rock-type power attacks. She became a Gym Leader so that she could apply what she learned at the Pokémon Trainer's School in battle. She wants to face many new opponents to see them demonstrate how they battle and with which Pokémon. In addition to the Stone Badge, Roxanne gives out TM39 (Rock Tomb), in Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Roxanne appears alongside the other Gym Leaders of Hoenn as an opponent in the Hoenn Leaders Tournament at the Pokémon World Tournament. She also participates alongside the Gym Leaders of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova in the World Leaders Tournament, and other Rock-type specialists in the Rock Type Expert Tournament. According to the TV show Trouble Talk, she is an expert in Fossils and has been written up in a number of magazines for it. She is also a friend ofSteven Stone and joins stone hunting groups with him, according to a stone seller in Route 114. In the anime Roxanne first appeared in Gonna Rule The School. Ash Ketchum and his friends met her when Max found a lost Poliwag from Roxanne's school. She is in charge of teaching very young children about Pokémon in the Pokémon Trainer's School. As such, when Ash and company first arrived in Rustboro, Roxanne was not able to answer Ash's challenge because she was still busy with teaching. However, she and the headmaster of the school invited the gang to spend a day in the school. In The Winner By a Nosepass, Ash battled Roxanne at the Gym while being filmed by some of Roxanne's students. Ash's Pikachu was able to defeat both of her Pokémon through a combination of pure electrical power and its newly learned Iron Tail technique, which took Roxanne by surprise. Roxanne apparently knows Professor Oak, as he gives live remote lectures for the students at the school. She also knew about Brock and the Pewter Gym before he met him, as the Pewter Gym shares her specialty. She reappeared in flashbacks in Whiscash and Ash and AG120. In the manga Ash and Pikachu manga Roxanne appeared in Trust In Each Other!! of the Ash and Pikachu manga where Ash challenged her to a Gym battle and won. Pokemon Adventures manga Roxanne debuts in the Ruby & Sapphire chapter. She is a graduate of the Rustboro Trainers' School and passed with high grades. When Sapphire arrives at the Gym to obtain her first Badge, she is shocked to find that other challengers are just studying. Roxanne explains that due to having so many challengers, she makes people take tests as a requirement to be able to face her. Sapphire reluctantly takes the test as well, but initially struggles due to her poor literacy skills. With help from advisors on how to read certain words, Sapphire manages to pass her test with flying colors, much to Roxanne's surprise. The two then have their Gym battle against each other. Roxanne faces Sapphire's Rono with her Nosepass. Sapphire finds that Nosepass is too strong to beat, but is unable to switch due to Nosepass's Magnet Pull Ability. By exploiting Nosepass's inability to face in directions other than north or else it will lose its balance, Sapphire strikes Nosepass from behind and defeats it, earning herself a Stone Badge. Roxanne congratulates Sapphire for her efforts and explains that the Badges can enable Sapphire to take place in the Pokémon League. Later, Roxanne and the other Gym Leaders are called by Flannery to meet in Fortree City. They have a discussion on Team Magma and Team Aqua about whether or not one of the teams is evil and the other is good. Roxanne exclaims that her former colleague Professor Cozmo is being funded by Team Aqua. She claims that since Professor Cozmo would never work with villains, then Team Aqua is on the side of good and Team Magma is on the side of evil. When Groudon and Kyogre are awakened, they begin causing droughts and downpours throughout Hoenn. Roxanne and Brawly are sent to the drought-plagued areas to face Groudon in battle. Despite their best efforts, Groudon proves to be too powerful for any of their attacks to damage it. Roxanne manages to prevent Groudon from moving with her Nosepass's Block and continuously attacks it to prevent Groudon from advancing any further. Wallace also arrives to assist Roxanne and Brawly in attacking Groudon, but all three are interrupted by the Three Fires of Team Magma, Blaise, Tabitha, and Courtney. The three grab Roxanne, Brawly, and Wallace and takes them to Lilycove City to prevent the Gym Leaders from stopping Groudon any further. Roxanne is dragged to Cove Lily Motel, where Courtney faces her in battle. Roxanne nearly manages to win, but Courtney holds several people hostage and threatens their lives. With no choice but to give up, Roxanne reluctantly allows Courtney to knock her Nosepass out, freeing Groudon from the effects of Block. After both Team Magma and Team Aqua defeated and Groudon and Kyogre returning to their deep slumber, Roxanne celebrated the victory with her allies and thanked Sapphire and Ruby for their assistance in the battle. Pokemon Ruby-Sapphire manga Roxanne appears in the Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire manga in the chapter Clefairy's Training Camp!!. She was first seen carrying groceries to her gym and invites Red and his Pokémon along to her Gym, which was also a Pokémon School. Roxanne showed them inside where her Nosepass was reading a book. The Story continues with Roxanne stating that she wanted her Nosepass to study hard in order to get a good job elsewhere. However, her Nosepass was not cooperating the way she wanted. Red and his Pokémon help her out and help Nosepass agree to get a job elsewhere. In gratitude, Roxanne wanted to give them the Stone Badge but they decide to give her a doughnut instead. After much sightseeing with Nosepass, they managed to have Nosepass work as a picnic table. Roxanne becomes pleased with the decision. Trivia *Roxanne is the only female Rock-type specialist. **However, it is said that Jasmine used to specialize in Rock-type Pokémon before she became a Steel-type specialist. *Roxanne has used all five Fossil Pokémon families introduced in Generations I and III at least once. *In her initial battle in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, all of Roxanne's Pokémon are female. In all subsequent rematches in Emerald, however, they are all male. External links *Bulbapedia Category:Female Category:Pokémon Heroes Category:Anime Heroes Category:Manga Heroes Category:Video Game Heroes Category:Elementals Category:Passionate Learners Category:Comic Relief Category:Spoiled Sweet Category:Status Dependent on Version